Crime & Safety

Fatal River Road Fire Still Being Investigated

The fire killed Margaret Smizaski on April 12.

A fire at a River Road home that killed a township woman April 12 remains under investigation, according to township police Lt. George Petersen.

"This one's amongst the more complicated I've investigated over the years," Petersen said Thursday.

Petersen said he could not elaborate on why the case is particularly complicated. He said, however, that he was at the Morris County Prosecutor's Office Thursday discussing the matter.

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The fire at 550 River Road began in the early afternoon April 12. A previous news release from the Morris County Prosecutor's Office said the fire, which consumed the garage that is part of the three-story home's first floor, began inside a 2008 four-door Honda CR-V parked inside the garage.

According to the release, the fire spread throughout the garage before extending to the upper floors of the home at 550 River and damaging those areas. Fire officials were called to the scene just after 1:15 p.m., and when they arrived, they found Margaret Smizaski, who lived at the home, dead in the driveway of the home outside the car.

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John Strelkoff, who owns Bottle Hill Window in Madison and was cleaning windows nearby at 548 River Road when the fire began, said at the time that the heat from the fire was extremely intense, and said he heard things start to pop inside the garage as the fire was raging.

Petersen said the occurrence was "not a simple case."

"There's so many things that have to be examined," he said. "It's something that's taking a lot of time to digest before (investigators) come up with a conclusive determination of why and how the fire got started."

Smizaski lived at the home with her husband and two children. According to tax records, the family purchased the house in 2005.

The prosecutor's office has been investigating the matter, as have township police. Investigators from agencies such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were at the scene after the fire occurred.


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